Apple might add Snapchat-like AR features to next iPhone camera

Apple has suggested in the past that it is exploring augmented reality, and now a new report has detailed what that might entail.

Echoing previous reports, Bloomberg said Apple is working on augmented-reality glasses, but it also said Apple plans to integrate augmented reality features into the next iPhone. Apple is developing ways to take a picture and then change the depth of image or specific objects in the picture later. It's also figuring out ways to isolate an object in the image and allow it to be tilted 180 degrees.

Another feature in development would use augmented reality to place virtual effects on a person, kind of like Snapchat Lenses. The company reportedly has “hundreds of engineers” working on these augmented reality technologies, including talent that came from Microsoft’s HoloLens team and Facebook-owned Oculus. Keep in mind the next iPhone is thought to have a "revolutionary" camera.

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo described the camera as such and said it would feature an infrared projector and receiver, which would allow it to act like Microsoft's Kinect as well as offer depth sensing and 3D mapping. And if you had any doubts about whether all this will come to fruition, remember that Tim Cook has hinted that Apple thinks augmented reality will be bigger than virtual reality.